hi all, 3.8 bird

[Tommy Vercetti]

Hi all,
newbie from italy here. 1997 5 speed Y87 3.8 bird as DD. can i join even if it's not a camaro?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz7R42DD0y0

it's been eating oil and running rich since i got it (4 and a half years ago) and i've been trying to solve both the issues lately. will open a thread about them.

[ssms5411]

Welcome to the site, yes your welcome here. It’s a V6 website so Firebirds are welcome too.

[2.8 Bird]

Welcome to the board.

[ssms5411]

Saw your video, running it that hard with problems you have, your car won’t last too much longer. Might want to chase down your leak and find why you’re running rich. I did some crazy stuff in parking lots late at night, but it was new and not 27 years old.

[Tommy Vercetti]

thanks guys,
i've been doing some tests lately and it looks like rings are not super strong anymore because it puffs smoke from the oil refill port if i rev it with the cap off.
some data is here:

replaced lim;
replaced valve seals;
injectors cleaned and tested by a local shops 2 times;
lot of oil in the throttle body.

ENGINE OFF, IGNITION ON:
zero codes and cels;
compression is fine-ish (from 185 to 160 psi, it's clearly not a fresh motor, but i don't think it's that bad);
tested some stuff with engine off (ignition on) and everything seems fine-ish:
MAF: 0 g/sec
MAP: 100 kPa
TPS goes smoothly from 0 to 100 if i press the gas pedal
o2 bank1 voltage: 0.45V
o2 bank 2 voltage: 0.44/0.45V
coolant temp (with 82.4F ambient): 82.4F
no leaks from fuel pressure regulator vacuum hose
TPS connector 5V
fuel pressure while priming is 45/46 psi (which i a lil bit low, as far as i know it should be between 48 and 55 psi),

ENGINE ON WHILE WARMING UP
-map: starts at 34kPa and goes up to about 38/39 kPa which sounds not correct to me. shouldn't go down in value instead of going up?;
-o2 upstream sensors both fluctuate a lot from 0.1V to 0.9V which seems fine-ish;
-timing advance is very off to me, starting the car value is a -12/-14 and goes up to -4 when car is hot. how is this even possible? i double checked with another scanner and i get similar values;
-maf is reading around 6g/s when warmed up (don't have the data while warming up);
-both ltft are way off, they fluctuate from -17.4 to -14.6 in closed loop. i'm reading that Values below -10 indicate gas saturated EVAP canister, loose or leaky gas cap, or hole in the gas tank system or hoses can cause this. how do i even check for a saturated evap canister? does anyone have a schematic of the evap lines?
-i'm reading pcm should go into closed loop in 30 seconds, but mine takes about 5 mins (and it's summertime);
- Engine doesn't stumble or die when the oil fill cap is removed, but it does puffs out of the fill port when revved (especially if the engine is at regular operating temp),

all of this data is at idle and idle itself is fine running at about 750/760 rpm.

at this point i'll try to installa a catch can.
also, how hard is to replace the piston rings with the engine in the car?

maybe is better if i copy and paste all this content in a new thred?
thanks

[ssms5411]

Fuel pressure is fine aslong if it’s 42-44 psi at idle, you might want to replace your PCV if you’re getting too much oil in the TB. Timing seems low I get 18-22 degrees at idle, warm around 20 degrees at idle, also on 1997 3.8 for some reason the scanners read negative instead of positive. I’ve gotten use to it.

[Tommy Vercetti]

thanks for the help.
new pcv already ordered and shipped. thanks for the timing tip, i'll try to borrow a tuner from a friend and reset the timing.

also, to know if the rings are bad the only confirmation i can get is to do a leakdown test, correct?

[ssms5411]

Your compression is decent, you can try a leak down test. Don’t know about your timing, might want to get a scanner and check idle and WOT see how far off it is. If you’re keeping the car might as well get Hptuners, then you can check it any time.

[Tommy Vercetti]

yes, it's been my daily for years so plan is to keep it.

gonna install a catch can and then try the leakdown test.

do you have a link for an hptuner?

[ssms5411]

yes, it's been my daily for years so plan is to keep it.

gonna install a catch can and then try the leakdown test.

do you have a link for an hptuner?

Just search Hptuners.com, a lot of companies sell it , might as well get it straight from them. Might as well get a wideband O2 setup so you can tune it, not really that hard if you read or watch the help videos. I’ve had mine for over 21 years. You’ll probably have to get the newer version which is Bluetooth, I still have the cable from when they first came out in 2002.

[Tommy Vercetti]

i see, thanks